OLD-FASHIONED SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY
This pastry is perfect for making apple and other sweet pies. Even if you've never made pastry before, as long as you stick to the correct measurements for the ingredients and you follow the method exactly, you'll be laughing. The one place where you can experiment is with flavoring. If you don't fancy using lemon zest, try another dry ingredient like orange zest instead. Or a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg or cocoa powder. Vanilla seeds are great too. Just remember to be subtle and don't go overboard with any of these flavors! Try to be confident and bring the pastry together as quickly as you can - don't knead it too much or the heat from your hands will melt the butter. A good tip is to hold your hands under cold running water beforehand to make them as cold as possible. That way you'll end up with a delicate, flaky pastry every time. PS. You can also make this pastry using a food processor
Provided by Jamie Oliver
Categories dessert
Time 50m
Yield about 2 pounds
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Sift the flour from a height onto a clean work surface and sift the icing sugar over the top. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. This is the point where you can spike the mixture with interesting flavors, so mix in your lemon zest. Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together until you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don't work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to rest for at least half an hour.
MY FAVORITE SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY
Blind baking the pastry case before any filling has been added allows it to crisp up, stopping any wet fillings seeping through.
Provided by Martha Collison
Categories HarperCollins Dessert Pie Tart
Yield Makes enough to line a 23cm (9-inch) tart tin
Number Of Ingredients 5
Steps:
- Put the flour, almonds, and confectioners' sugar into a large bowl and mix together until well combined.
- Add the butter to the dry ingredients and rub into the flour until you get a mixture that looks like fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the egg yolk (save the white for glazing) and 1 tablespoon of cold water and stir into the flour with a round-ended knife. The mixture will start to clump together after you have mixed for a minute or so, but there will still be some floury patches in the bowl. Turn the contents of the bowl onto a large piece of cling film and knead briefly until all the pastry has come together into a ball. Wrap in the cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until you are ready to use it.
- Blind baking:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Roll out the chilled pastry between two pieces of cling film until it is a few centimeters larger than your tin. You could also do this on a floured surface, but the pastry is so fragile I find it easier to handle between cling film. Peel off the top layer of cling film then invert the pastry circle into the prepared tart tin, gently pressing it into all the edges. Put the pastry-lined tin into the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Remove the cling film from the pastry, prick the base all over with a fork then line the inside with baking parchment and baking beans (you could also use uncooked lentils or rice if you don't have baking beans-anything that will weigh the paper down).
- Bake for ten minutes, then carefully remove the paper and beans and bake for a further ten minutes, until the base is crisp. You are now ready to fill the case.
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